


touch aversion

by buckysknifecollection



Series: Bucky Barnes Drabbles [16]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25975381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckysknifecollection/pseuds/buckysknifecollection
Summary: Drabble request: bucky has touch aversion and the reader is a very physically affectionate person. She's the only one he can stand to touch him.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Series: Bucky Barnes Drabbles [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1511978
Comments: 3
Kudos: 108





	touch aversion

For many people, touch is something completely natural, something they don’t even think about. They don’t ponder over shaking hands before a meeting, or hugging their friends in greeting, or kissing their loved one.

For Bucky though, touch was something he instinctively shied away from. He preferred sitting at the kitchen island instead of the dining table, where anyone’s knee or foot or shoulder could bump with him. On missions, he usually worked alone, from a distance, with only his rifle to keep him company, while the rest of the team is just a buzz in his ear, and on the way back home, he’d keep to himself in the back of the jet.

The team never took it personally, they understood. Given his past, his aversion to touch made complete sense. Bucky appreciated that after a while everyone learned to interacted with him without the need to touch him or invade his personal space, it was more effort than he would’ve ever dared to ask for.

There were of course times, mostly during any sort of public appearances, where people, usually important people, demanded a firm handshake. They would get offended and play it off with some unfunny joke whenever Bucky didn’t lift a finger towards them, until someone physically stepped between them to end the interaction short.

Often it was Steve, who kept watch over Bucky like his life depended on it. Sometimes it was Wanda, flashing red eyes and malicious smile she reserved only for people she didn’t like. Sometimes it was Sam, who distracted the other party with a smart comment. And then sometimes, it was you.

Sweet, soft-spoken you, one of the many agents from SHIELD’s PR department.

You were relatively new when you were thrown into the deep water that was being assigned to the Avengers. When Bucky first met you, he worried he wouldn’t see you for much longer. There was no way someone so adorable and gentle could face the vicious reporters they often had to deal with.

You proved him wrong, of course, the very first time you tagged along with the team to a massive press conference. You had a fascinating way of putting people right in their place with the sweetest smile on your face, keeping everyone on the team safe from rude and intrusive questions. 

After one of such conferences, while leaving the stage, you tripped and almost fell down the three steps leading down to safety. Before you so much as realised what happened, Bucky caught you by the waist and pulled you back a step. Once safe, you looked up at him with those pretty eyes of yours and smiled at him brightly. You didn’t even flinch at his hands still on your waist when you thanked him, and Bucky didn’t mind either when you reached up to his right hand and squeezed it gently, before trotting after the other Avengers backstage.

That was the day it all started.

It was an unusual friendship, at first, even gained a few curious looks from his friends and your coworkers, but Bucky didn’t much care. He’d seek you out for the most mundane of reasons, and you’d always greet him with a smile warm like the sun.

Bucky had seen you interact with other people and he knew how natural it came to you to hug someone, pat their shoulder or grab their hand when you got excited. He was grateful that you kept yourself from doing the same to him, but for once, Bucky wanted your touch.

You were safety, you were warmth, and damn if those weren’t things Bucky craved beyond everything else.

The first time you cautiously held his hand, after an unusually harsh encounter in the middle of Brooklyn with people who were definitely not fans, Bucky all but melted into your touch. You rubbed his forearm comfortingly, but truth be told, he had already erased from his memory what the other had said. All he remembered from that day was your warm palms on him.

Bucky didn’t so much as lower his guard around you, but completely threw it out the window and slammed it shut. You started joining the team’s social evenings - game and movie nights, small get-togethers, birthdays and themed parties. And the moment you walked through the door, you’d make Bucky’s night great just by being there.

It was one of those nights, when he realised you were it for him.

You had a few too many drinks, just like everyone else, and after a bit of dancing and a failed attempt to beat Sam in a game of pool, you ended up on the couch next to Bucky. Or rather, half on top of him - your head on his shoulder, leg hooked over his thigh, one arm behind his back and the other over his stomach. Bucky has never seen you more content than when you were draped over him.

“You alright there, Buck?” Steve head popped up from behind the couch, startling Bucky, seeing as he completely ignored everything else but you.

He could hear the concern in Steve’s voice, but also the tint of amusement at his friend’s current situation. Bucky glanced up at Steve, then back at your half-asleep face and smiled.

“Perfect.”


End file.
